Getting old happens to the best of us – and ever since Juan Ponce de Leon went to Florida in 1512 on a quest to find the fountain of youth – many have searched for a miracle that would stop, slow or reverse the aging process.

The marketing of Resveratrol is the latest chapter in this saga and has inspired some greedy and not very honest entities to hawk Resveratrol products over the Internet they claim are "guaranteed." The only guarantee with some of these products is that the person buying them might end up spending a lot of money for nothing.

The sad truth is that there are companies selling Resveratrol supplements that appear to be using deceptive marketing practices. If you see a come-on for Resveratrol, I would carefully consider, whether or not, it appears a little too be too good to be true and follow the principle of "caveat emptor" (buyer beware). Of course, it always pays to read the “fine print” (as you will see below), also.

Please note, I'm not here to dispute the possible health benefits of Resvervatrol or recommend if people should use it. The research on it is pretty exciting and I truly hope the results are positive.

There is research showing that Resveratrol has the ability to cure diseases caused by aging and increase life spans. 60 Minutes, Oprah and many other media sources have done stories on it – but although it is being studied seriously – it still hasn’t been approved by the FDA.

Unfortunately, seeming credible evidence is often twisted by greedy people with the intent of making a quick buck, who make it appear they are legitimate when they are not.

Horror stories are starting to pop in Internet forums from ordinary people – who buy Resveratrol and end up paying a lot more than they should have. Even worse, they might end up buying something that isn’t really Resveratrol. A lot of supplements are hawked via spam advertising, where the source might be slightly questionable. The latest estimates are that over 90 percent of all e-mail is spam. Spam is known to contain a lot of deceptive and outright criminal come-ons.

Of course, spam advertising isn't the only venue where Resveratrol is being marketed. Dr. Oz has talked about Resveratrol on Oprah and the article on this from Oprah.com has put in a disclaimer that Harpo productions is pursuing companies that are claiming an affiliation with Dr. Oz or Oprah. I even found an ad page from a "Dr. Os" (note the spelling difference), which is hawking Resveratrol. The page has a YouTube video with the real Dr. Oz talking about Resveratrol. Didn't go so far as to confirm it, but I would be careful about buying anything on this site, which offers up to two free bottles of Resveratrol.

Sadly enough the Oprah.com article – with the disclaimer – is buried by all the other sites using Dr. Oz and other assorted mainstream media stories about Resveratrol. If you want to see what I am talking about, a simple search for "Resveratrol" pulls up an amazing amount of Internet marketing selling Resveratrol. Some of the advertising has "warnings" that Resveratrol products might be harmful to someone's health or a scam. Most of these ads lead to the product the advertiser putting out the warning is selling.

The sheer volume of advertising on Resveratrol makes it hard for the average person to determine what is legitimate and what is not.

Besides the disclaimer being made by Oprah, there is some interesting buzz on her forums about a product called "Resveratrol Ultra." Many of the people leaving comments on these forums have had their credit cards repetitively charged after signing up for a free trial of this particular product. The true cost is $87.13 for the free trial (if you don’t immediately return it) and they keep shipping you their product and charging you this amount, monthly.

I went to the Resveratrol Ultra site and it has a YouTube clip of the 60 minutes story. One thing I noticed is there is a disclaimer on the site, which states:

"The 15 day Free Trial offer is designed to display the quality and effectiveness of Resveratrol Ultra. This gives you the opportunity to try this remarkable program for FREE (just pay shipping and handling) so you can come to a decision for yourself if this is the right product for you."

"We want you to be pleased with our products. If it is not all you expected it to be, or you're unsatisfied in any way just return the unused portion 15 days from the date that the product was originally shipped to you for a refund. We are committed to providing superior products and service to our customers. If you are not completely satisfied, contact us and we will make it right for you. Guaranteed!"

If you read the complaints this seems to allow them to start charging you $87.13 a month starting with the free offer unless you return the product in 15 days. Based on the comments in Oprah's forum and on a personal conversation I had with a victim — good luck getting any cooperation from Resveratrol Ultra in getting a refund once this happens. Other complaints state it is even hard to get them to stop billing you $87.13 a month.

Of course, Oprah.com isn't the only place where the public is crying foul about a company selling a Resveratrol product. Complaintboard.com is warning people about Resveratrol complaints and there are also YouTube videos about the subject.

I did a search on mainstream drug store sites and found Resveratrol for about $7 to $12 a bottle. This seems to be a more sensible way to go than paying almost $100 a bottle if you choose to try Resveratrol before the FDA approves it. These places won’t keep charging your credit card, over and over again, either.

If anyone reading this has a complaint, the best place to report it would be the Federal Trade Commission. You can do so right on their site. I ran a search on the FTC site and so far there is nothing about Resveratrol companies, but if enough people complain to them, perhaps there will be.

Posting complaints in Internet forums is an honorable thing to do – but my guess is that if the FTC gets enough complaints they will look into it and go after the people doing it – a lot more, effectively!

To close this post, I would like to reach out to all the mainstream sources which have covered Resveratrol. Their stories are being used to market these products. It sure would be nice if they took the time to cover this aspect of the story more effectively. The few warnings out there about this are easily buried by all the people selling Resveratrol!

My inspiration to write this post came from a Nurse Carol, who spent a career working in Public Health and holds a Master's Degree. She fell for the free trial part of this and has gone through hours of pain and suffering trying to get her money back. Despite cancelling the product after realizing what it was all about, her credit card is still be billed by Resveratrol Ultra as I write this. Although Nurse Carol isn’t a celebrity like Doctor Oz, I can guarantee she recommends that anyone considering using Resveratrol exercise caution before handing over a method of payment.

Great article and i know what you mean when you say anti aging is a problem. Just goes to show the french drinking wine did help!

[Spammy half of this post deleted by the Comments Editor]

Cheryl

I was one of the victims of this advertising. I was told by one of their telephone solicitors that “there is no such thing as a free trial” and I should have known that.

My credit card company refused their charges, I cancelled my card and ordered a new one.

I won’t be ordering on line again.

Linda

I, too, fell for this – in large part because there was a “blog” from someone in my community about trying and really liking the product (with before and after pictures). However, that was very stupid of me because after becoming suspicious and checking that blog out from a different computer in a different area, I found the “woman’s” town had changed! How amazing! Fortunately, my credit card company blocked their charge (I believe) and I will talk to them tomorrow to make sure it does not go through! Thank you credit card company! (And I thought I was too smart to fall for something like this…)

http://www.sjdiscountcosmeticstore.co.uk steve

We run an online cosmetic store and have sold various antiaging products that offer a full refund if the product doesnt work.When we have had a couple off claims we have contacted our suplier for a full refund. They have contacted their official reps who have basically told us that we have to cover the gurantee ourselves and the company will not offer a refund to us.
From what i have herd thru sources in the past I would not beleive in any free trials or refunds if the product doesnt work.They are either impossable or really complicated to get your money back or just a blatant advertising scam to get you to buy the product.
we have not mentioned no names for legal reasons for our own protection and to keep witin the rules off this blog.

http://www.skincareantiaging.org Skin Care Anti Aging

My husband is an attorney and actually was supposed to be part of multi jurisdictional case where he was supporting several people in their claims against the company for false advertising. False advertising is running rampant and no one is checking these pharmaceutical/beauty companies!

http://eternal-spring.com Linda

Ed,

I couldn’t agree more! Resveratrol certainly has its place in age management. However, anytime something good comes around there will always be people trying to exploit it in unethical ways. The bad thing is that it’s tough to tell them from the good people who are trying to make a solid contribution to society with that new product.

My advice for people unsure of the advertising would be three-fold:

1. Check out reviews of the product (preferably from people whom you know who personally used it – or at least from multiple review sites.)
2. Don’t get suckered for outlandish claims relative to the other products in the same category. If one product is touted as being “amazingly better” than another it’s probably hyped marketing at best (and outright lies at worst!)
3. Find out a little about the person / company promoting the product. If they have reasonable credentials, are spoken well of by others and appear to have a history of contributions to the field then that works in their favor.

Price would be a fourth consideration but it really should come into your decision making process after you’ve ascertained the value of the product specific to your situation. And, like Steve said, no matter what the price, it should be protected with no strings attached money-back guarantee.

Again, thanks for the post and best wishes to you in all your endeavors!

surgeon

Nice article. Thanks for sharing.It is always good to do some research before ordering a product online and it is better to buy the product from credible websites like ebay. I would suggest to read product reviews and do some reading on the ingredients of the product before buying it blindly.